Travel Companions

Bringing the sorority along can be fun on the first day, but will soon have you ready to blow your brains out.

It can be cause quite a headache trying to figure out whether to travel on your own or with friends. Many people probably believe that to go to a foreign country totally by yourself is lunacy, but in fact there is no better way to meet people and have real experiences.

It is said that is worth bringing a friend so that you have someone to turn to and say things like, ‘wow that’s one magnificent sunset.’ But bringing friends can cause serious problems. First, if you travel with just one friend it is all too easy to spend too much time with the person instead of meeting others. Second, you or the friend might have to compromise too often and miss out on things you really want to do. Finally, the friendship itself might not survive the journey – it’s easy to start fighting with someone you spend time with at such close quarters.

Going alone may be riskier, but it’s worth the risks. After the first few days of loneliness (or less) you will undoubtedly meet other people to travel with. You are free to leave these new-found friends whenever you like, and you are sure to make contacts with people who live all over the world. On your own you are free to think and go wherever you like.

The dynamic is agreeably different for female travelers. The danger of getting raped or worse is real, and most females prefer to travel with at least one friend. There are plenty of women, though, who know how to keep their wits about them and stay out of bad situations who do just fine traveling alone.

Jim Klee

Jim Klee – sports a mangled passport and a well-worn rucksack. He believes travel to be a form of therapy against modern civilization’s madness.
In 2002 Jim embarked on a journey starting with a one-way ticket no return to Mexico City. Some months later he discovered Tom Thumb sleeping in the shade besides his tent on a beach in Costa Rica. After surviving rip currents in Mexico, nearly freezing to death trekking solo in Patagonia, and getting knocked unconscious by submerged rocks while surfing in Australia, Jim decided to clear his head by beelining his way (mostly overland) to the Himalaya. There a regimen of Sufi poetry, yoga up in the mountains, and cheap gel pens resulted in a stack of notebooks containing an unpublishable travel novel. He re-emerged in New York City in late 2004 and Road Junky was born soon after.